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In nearly every town, there’s that one restaurant that’s a true staple. One that helps enhance its beauty and uniqueness, no matter how big or small. In Dorset, Minnesota that restaurant is the beloved Companeros.

For 30 straight summers, owners Rick and Laura Kempnich opened their family-owned restaurant in the small tourist town of only 27 year-round residents. And every year when the doors were thrown open to let in the warm summer air, the Kempnichs’ loyal (and hungry) customers were there waiting. Companeros even made national news in 2012, when Bobby Tufts was elected as the nation’s youngest mayor at the age of 3 years old, right on the old wooden deck.

But tragedy struck the tiny town in September 2014, when a lightning strike sparked a fire that left the restaurant in ruins. The Kempnichs decided to sell the land in hopes that new owners would rebuild the local Mexican eatery. To keep the tradition alive, former employees Levi and Beth Durgin purchased the land and the family recipes.

Once word began to spread about the rebuild, donations started pouring in. Inventables customer Joe Westphal caught wind of the reconstruction efforts and did what any great maker would do. He grabbed his X-Carve and offered to help.

Several times each summer, Joe and his wife would drive to Dorset to visit Companeros and gain the precious memories they now cherish. So when Joe heard about the rebuild from a tradesman working on the effort, he was happy to help a "place that has been a social fixture in this area as much as any business for many years for folks who visit and vacation in this area. They had a need, I have the equipment. The Durgins delegated the engraving of the deck planks to Joe. Using his X-Carve in a creative nod to the overwhelming support from the community, he’s carving donors’ names into the new wooden floorboards. Once completed, the boards will be used to create the deck.

With donations pouring in from Texas to Nebraska, Joe and his X-Carve have been hard at work. With even more carving ahead, he’s happy to help a community in need, allowing X-Carve to quietly and artfully leave its mark on the small town.

“The loss of Companeros had threatened to cause the community to fade into oblivion like so many small towns today.” Now, with the support of a strong loyal community and some assistance from X-Carve, Dorset is coming back to life.

To join the effort by donating to the Companeros rebuild, please visit their Go Fund Me page.

Did you hear the big announcement from Inventables CEO, Zach Kaplan? If you missed out on the action, keep reading. You’re going to want to hear this news!

On Tuesday March 29th, Zach Kaplan was the keynote speaker at the maker-themed Technori event in Chicago. Technori is the third largest monthly startup event in the United States, showcasing over 250 companies at 50 events. Technori has raised over $201 million in funding and employs more than 1,000 people. Technori is working to help build the startups of tomorrow by giving them a stage to present their ideas in front of hundreds. By doing so, Technori has been able to assist startups in gaining momentum, and even, helping to obtain their first customer, partnership or investment.

Technori gave Kaplan the chance to explain to the startup community, how students are bored at school and have resorted to snapchatting their face rather than learning. This contagious boredom throughout students is causing The U.S. academic rating to plummet. And to this Kaplan said no more!

In Inventables’ effort to promote STEM education throughout The U.S., Kaplan announced Tuesday night that Inventables is launching a program that allows schools to start a crowdfunding page to buy a Carvey! The campaign program can be found on the Inventables website and allows any school to set up a campaign that will last 30 days, with proof of tax exemption form.

Kaplan explained that together as a nation we need to come together and make kids become interested in school again by promoting STEM education. To find out more information about the Inventables crowdfunding program, visit our website!

After three months of anticipation, the wait is coming to an end! Carveys and X-Carves are beginning to appear at the front doors of the 50 winning schools of the Inventables 3D carver contest.

Back in January, Inventables announced the winners of the contest to kickoff our mission of putting a 3D carving machine in every school in the U.S. by the end of the decade.

In Hawaii at Kailua Elementary, Greg Kent and his students built a cozy transparent home for their X-Carve. They have also been busy carving a sign to proudly welcome their guests to the Kailua Elemakery!

Kent recently told Inventables that he feels, “like the X-Carve has taken our makerspace to the next level! We have hit the ground running and are in the middle of ‘Design Thinking in the Garden’ with 2nd and 5th graders. It is a tool that promotes critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. The 5th graders are working with the 2nd graders to help them improve their gardens. So far students have created cardboard prototypes of raised bed markers, a gate, small tool storage, large tool storage, a watering arm, a bee house, a seed storage box, and a fruit harvesting pole. Next week the 5th graders will create the designs in Easel, create their supply list and begin creating the pieces on the X-Carve”.

In Massachusetts, teacher Jennifer Esty is leading her students on a Carvey adventure at Sparhawk School. With smiles on their faces, Jennifer and her students begin their out of the box Carvey experience!

At Loudoun Academy of Science in Sterling, Virginia, teacher Josh Ajima is helping his students create an awesome digital fabrication lab with a little help from their new friend Carvey. Check out Josh’s great post about his Carvey unboxing experience here!

Down south the fun is just beginning for three more of our winning schools! Bill Nebeker from Klein Independent School District in Texas, Megan McNinch from Sugar Creek Elementary in South Carolina and Kristie Wikane from Rockingham Middle School in North Carolina are all adding one more name to their class roster.

For more information on how you can sign up a school for Inventables new crowdfunding program, check out our website!

Within the next few decades, an explosion of new technologies is going to once again make the United States the top dog of manufacturing.

Inventables Founder and CEO, Zach Kaplan is just one of the individuals leading the digital manufacturing revolution.

3D carving is used to carve objects out of many different materials like wood, plastic and even metal. You start with a flat piece of material that is clamped down tightly to secure it during the carving process. The project design is created on the computer and then sent to the 3D carving machine. A part of the machine called the spindle, rotates the bit to remove material from the surface. The spinning bit has sharp edges so it is moved perpendicular to its axis of rotation, which creates cutting on the circumference of the bit rather than the tip.

Kaplan spoke with Chicago Tonight’s reporter, Eddie Arruza about the beginning of the digital manufacturing revolution here in the United States. Kaplan explains that while we are still in the infancy stage of this revolution, the amount of tools and people participating are going to explode within the next few decades.

With release of Inventables newest machine, Carvey, Kaplan hopes to make a big impact in the progress of the revolution. Carvey is a quiet and clean tabletop 3D carving machine that is also easy to use. Kaplan hopes Carvey becomes a common well-known tool, much like PowerPoint is today. While Carvey is not the only 3D carving machine on the market, Kaplan says it is the easiest to use.